Fear discourages US residents from visiting Mexico

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, The Associated Press

The recent spate of drug-related killings in Nogales, Mexico, is driving apart what have long been close-knit communities, discouraging some residents of its Arizona sister city from crossing the border.

Even lifelong residents of the U.S. side of the border are refusing to cross the line to see relatives or friends. Others are going less frequently or restricting themselves to daytime visits.

Shopkeeper Ernesto Chavez said his wife no longer goes bowling or has lunch on Tuesdays with her sisters on the other side, a 40-year tradition.

Chavez, whose office supply store sits a half-block north of the Morley Avenue border crossing, said he told his wife a few months ago: "'I'm not going to tell you not to go, but it's your life, it's your body.' And she decided not to go. As simple as that."

Now, her sisters come north to have lunch with her in Nogales, Ariz., Chavez said.

Shootings, grenade attacks and even beheadings have plagued other Mexican border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez for years but they have only recently arrived full-force in Nogales, Mexico, and the state of Sonora.

Gunmen from drug-trafficking organizations have primarily targeted rival groups, but police and soldiers also have been caught in the violence. The Sonora state police director was ambushed at a central Nogales hotel in early November.

The Mexican city's tourism-dependent economy has been paralyzed by gun battles occurring even in daylight on public streets, near stores and in restaurants within a few miles of the border.

In mid-October, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert warning Americans to be wary of going to Nogales, Mexico, because of the increasing violence.

Maria Armenta, a secretary who works downtown, said she and her family used to visit her grandfather, aunts and uncles across the border three to five times a week.

However, she and her mother haven't seen her grandfather for at least two months. "Right now we're scared that we don't know if we're going to get caught in any of those shootings," she said.

Young adults who typically would frequent night clubs in Mexico, where drinking at age 18 is legal, also have shied away. Alexis Kramer, a Nogales High School senior, said her classmates have been warned off by their parents or have realized that the clubs are located in the area where much of the violence has occurred.

"Many of us have friends across the line, or family, and we hear the stories, that after sundown they have to be home," she said.

Even police officers are changing their habits.

Nogales Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez said he and his family used to go to dinner in Mexico, or on Sundays take a walk to the curio shops.

"And all that stopped ... . I don't want to subject my family to any undue harm or violence," Bermudez said. "The way it is right now, you're in a restaurant and you don't even know who's sitting next to you, who these people are, and somebody comes in and just sprays the whole restaurant with bullets."

"It's a sad turn of events for this border community, because this is something we've never experienced before," said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada.

"Nogales, Mexico, was like the last safe haven from this type of phenomenon," he said. "And it's changed the panorama forever. Things will never be the same. That doesn't mean things won't get better, but they'll never be the same."